Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics system operation at an 8-m class telescope
like Gemini North and Gemini South require minimum laser output power in the
10 W range. Since each additional watt of laser power increases the laser
purchase and operational costs, it is highly desirable to understand how laser
parameters can be optimized in order to decrease the total laser power
requirement. This paper provides some tools to calculate the output power
requirement of a candidate laser system and its optimized parameters in the
case of continuous wave lasers and high repetition rate pulsed lasers. Laser
power requirements for Gemini North and Gemini South are given as examples of
this calculation.